After the World Ended
by angelbreaker
Summary: A new force takes over Volterra, decimating the human world. Emmett comes back to Forks to save Bella with an impossible story about her lost love. Bella leaves Forks, the only safe place left, to go in search of Edward. Not the usual fic, give it a go.


**A/N: Anyone who is reading this because they have me on author alert DO NOT FEAR!!! I am still writing my other fics...I promise they will be finished. It's just I had a dream of this fic and I want to know if you guys think I should carry it on...I know my other fics are not like other Twilight fics, but this one really sort of takes the biscuit. This is all I've written of it (seven pages your lucky readers!) and it's going to be pretty hard to keep writing. You guys tell me that you want me to continue and I will, but I'm not making any promises this time. I'm an inch away from a promotion at work and that's my priority, although if I get an unprecedented amount of reviews I will endeavour to continue this story for you :P. **

**NB: There is a lot of narrative, as fans of my other stories will know I LOVE to write character progression, so deal with it. Let me know though – you like it, you don't - this is VERY different to my usual stuff so PLEASE let me know!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the original Twilight characters, but the original characters are from my heart and soul and I will guard them jealously.**

I stood on the wrecked car, looking down at the vampire. Their blood red eyes were trained on me, even as their last victim lay in their arms, bloody and battered. I smiled at them.

"You want my blood?" I asked, feigning surprise. "Well, I'm here, come and get it."

The vampire watched me warily. He couldn't be more than a year old, still more animal than man. It was taking them longer to grow...civilised now. Now they didn't have to hide, no pressure to fit in, just kill whenever they wanted and there wasn't a damn thing we could do about it. Well, we'll see about that. He growled at me, suspicious. I smiled. Perhaps the rumours are getting out, the vampires are wary now.

"Come and get it then." I said, holding a knife to my arm and pressing it until it pinched me. It seemed too much for the vampire to take, the idea of me spilling my blood for it. He jumped at me and suddenly a pair of strong arms grabbed me, pulling me away as the vampire cleared the car...and fell over the other side, into a large box that had been waiting for it. It was made of reinforced concrete. Not strong enough to hold a vampire for long, but enough to hold it for long enough. There were large slits in the box.

"Now!" I shouted and a figure darted over and slammed the lid on before the confused, savage vampire could take its bearings. Three others came out from behind shells of buildings and launched harpoons into the slits, there was a scream of rage from within the box and a terrible ripping noise as the harpoons were winded back out again.

"Tyler, now!" I shouted as Tyler ran forwards with a flamethrower and began blasting through one of the holes. There were screams of gut wrenching agony...and then it stopped. Everyone was quiet. Once it was apparent there were no more sounds coming from the box, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. I looked up at the figure who had pulled me off the car as the vampire had jumped for me. Jacob looked unhappy as he looked back down at me and I gave him a small smile.

"Well, let's see how it worked." I said after a while, moving out of his embrace and walking towards the box.

"Stay back." Jacob grabbed my arm and thrust me behind him. "For all your training, Bella you're still only human and if this is a trick it will kill you in a beat of your heart." I opened my mouth to protest, to tell them that I could handle it, that I didn't need him to coddle me anymore. I may be human but I'd been training, I was fast and I was strong. But he was right. I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't strong enough. I never would be.

"He's right, little sister." A large man said from behind me, where he had been guarding in case the vampire tried to make a run for it. "Stay back until we know it's done." Emmett put a hand on my shoulder and I nodded. The two of them walked towards the box cautiously. There was a reshuffle of people as the few vampires and wolves on their team took defensive positions around the humans. Emmett and Jacob looked at each other and then opened the box.

"He's toast." Emmett declared, and with that Tyler let out a large whoop and clapped his hands.

"Shut up! Moron." Elisa shushed him. "We don't want to attract any more of them. Not until we're ready."

"Let's get back to base." I said, letting out a huge whoosh of air I didn't realise I'd been holding. "It won't take long for the others to realise what happened and we can't be here when they do."

Everyone began walking back to their trucks, heading back to home. No truck would have just humans in it, it wasn't safe to travel alone these days. Emmett looked thoughtful as he slid into the truck next to me and started the engine.

"It works." I said to him.

"Yeah, on stupid newborns when you've got a ton of back up." Emmett said. "It's too dangerous to even attempt trying it with only humans, the slightest error and you all get killed."

"Did anyone make a mistake today? We've been training for weeks for this."

"It's too risky." Jacob piped up from the backseat. "It's a good idea, but no way I'm letting you guys do it solo."

"Then what do we do, Jacob?" I turned around to him. "We just let them keep killing? I just let you guys go out without me? We can manufacture these things, we can hone them, make them better. Hundreds of units all around the world. We can try and beat them back." I turned back front and slid down in my seat. "It's a start, I never said it was perfect, I just wanted to see if it works, and because of it, they're number is down by one."

"One out of thousands." Jacob said, staring out of the window. The car ride was silent after that, and once we got home I oversaw everyone getting in. We were staying in an old bunker, reinforced concrete underground. Over the year we'd been here we'd been extending it, and what with the supernatural help around it was getting really quite big and homely. There was a 24 hour wolf and vamp patrol to make sure we had no unwanted visitors, but there was always a stream of people coming to us, seeking help and a way out of Seattle. We would arrange them transport to more southern areas, where the vampire population was less focused, but nowhere was really safe anymore, nowhere that could handle more people anyway, not since they came out of hiding. The team was rowdy, elated with the success, already discussing how to modify the procedure, how to make it better. I smiled at them and went to my room without a word. A usual occurrence for me, so no one really took notice of the fact that I disappeared.

Today was a good day, as good a day as we got around here. The procedure worked, the harpoons were strong enough –that was my main worry. It was a step down the road, but we weren't travelling fast enough – I was starting to get frustrated with how long everything was taking. I wanted to find him again, I wanted to know he was safe, alive. I wanted him here with me. It would all be so much easier once we'd recovered him.

It has been three years since Edward left me. I was starting to try and get on with my life, and I was succeeding, for a while. I even thought something might have even happened with Jacob, but that's when it happened. A new group of vampires took on the Volturi, killed them and took charge of the vampire world. A lot of the Volturi followers accepted the new rulers, who had a very different view of the vampire's role in society. Vampires announced themselves to the world and chaos ensued. Fights fought in secret began to come out into the streets in broad daylight, riots broke out everywhere as people tried to protect themselves with wooden stakes and garlic, but obviously it didn't work. The president was killed and replaced, and now humans were just toys to the vampires will, to kill to create new vampires as they saw fit. The only reason the human raced existed was for food. There was no way to stop them, not anymore.

Vegetarianism in vampires was made illegal, and from what Emmett has told me the Cullens scattered to try and get away. Alice and Jasper took to South America, and Carlisle and Esme went east, to Asia. Emmett and Rosalie were planning on the deserts of Africa, but that was before they got Rosalie. Emmett tried to save her, but there were too many of them, they dragged her off somewhere. We weren't even sure whether she was still alive.

And Edward...well Edward was coming back for me. That's what Emmett said anyway. When he first heard the news apparently I was his first thought, to protect me...because he still loved me. I clutched at my sides as I remembered that. He took off before all of his family has even made their plans, without a word to them after he saw Alice's vision. But...he never made it. Forks was ravaged just like all the rest of America, some were turned, a lot were killed. The wolves put up a great fight, but numbers were against them. They got Charlie as he tried to save some of the townspeople. He died doing his job. They killed most of the kids at my school, but Tyler managed to get out. We picked him up in the chaos and he's been following me ever since. I think Mike was turned, but I'm not sure. I just remember coming out of the Newton's store after work to find three vampires out there, feeding off of Mike's mom and another person. I would have died too if Emmett hadn't come to Forks looking for me once Edward disappeared. He says that I'm the only family he's got left now. I can't contact Renee, and one day I might have to face the idea that she's dead as well, but it could be that she's gone into hiding. Either way, I guess Emmett and Jacob are all I have too.

We got out of Forks with as many people as we could find. Jacob refused to come, stating that he couldn't leave La Push unprotected, but I couldn't stay. Edward is still alive. I know that with all my heart and soul. He's somewhere, he's in pain but I will find him and save him and Rosalie both. Emmett and I went underground with our little band of stragglers, and Emmett trained us. It was unrelenting few months at first, and I thought I was going to die from the pain of it, but we needed it. I looked down at the muscles on my arms. I was stronger and faster, the strongest and fastest I could be, but I wasn't good enough.

After a year or so, we found that with the new savage vampires, there were other vampires being made that rejected the lifestyle, vampires like Emmett. In Carlisle's name we took them in, gave them refuge and helped them to fight the hold that human blood had on them. At first it was tense, with the humans on our team not trusting the newcomers, not accepting them, but Emmett and I stood firm, and eventually the others agreed.

When they first join us, we keep them away from all humans, Emmett caring for them and having great philosophical debates about the nature of good and evil, and our own choices. He told me that Carlisle did the same thing for him and it helped him to get through. It was tense when Emmett judged the first vampire, Elisa, to be ready to join our team. That was a few months ago now, and others have joined her since. I think it really helps Emmett to do this for them, to save as many of his kind as he can. Keep them safe and underground, help them the way Carlisle helped him. I've seen a new side to Emmett these days, and I'll never stop being grateful that he sacrificed everything to come to Forks and save me.

There was a knock on my door.

"Come in." I said, and watched as Jacob slipped into my room.

"I'm taking the pack back to Forks now." Jacob told me. He was running a great operation there. The town was almost good as new, and the people lived relatively normal lives. We used to send everyone we could that way, but there soon became a serious population problem. Jacob is working on it at the moment, building the town up so we can send more people his way. His plan is to expand the town to a city, maybe even the state. It helped that almost all the tribe were wolves now. There were upwards of forty wolves and more coming of age and changing it seemed every day. Sam had been killed in the original fight and Jacob was now the alpha. "Some others have requested to stay with you." I nodded. Seth Clearwater had broken off from Jacob's pack and brought his own wolves to our operation after Jacob's decision not to send wolves out to help us. I knew it was hard for him to leave La Push, but he wanted to take the fight to the vampires and we readily accepted his help, old feuds forgotten in the circumstances. Jacob had welcomed Seth's decision and the two got on very well as equals. I knew that Jacob loved Seth more for doing this for me, and I loved Seth like a brother too. Seth, Emmett and I ran the group together and it worked well, probably because we were all so different yet exactly the same.

Even though we had our own pack, Jacob leaving was always hard. I saw his fist clench and I knew he wanted to stay, but Forks was such an important refuge for human life, he couldn't leave it unprotected. He visited from time to time with members of his pack, but only when we needed a little bit more muscle, such as for this test, and he never stayed long. I know I hurt him when I left with Emmett, I know he thinks I should come back to Forks with him, stay within the limits and let him protect me, let him love me, but I can't, and he knows that. He would never ask me to either. "Seth's swearing them in now."

"Okay." I said. "We can always use the help. I'll go and see them when they're finished." I stood. "Bye Jake, as always thank you for the help."

"Anytime Bells." He grabbed me and pressed me to him. "Bella..."

"Yeah, Jake?" I looked up at him.

"This thing you're planning..." He kept his face completely smooth.

"Yeah?"

"Don't go off and do it without me." He surprised me. He knew what we were planning of course, although we never discussed it with him. Jacob and Emmett got on alright, the only time they spent any real time together was out in the field and at least they trusted each other enough for that, but Jake still had his reservations about the vegetarian vampires. I didn't judge him on it, it was in his blood. I knew that Seth and his pack were strange for wolves like the Cullens were strange for Vampires. Not talking about it worked, so him bringing it up now was a little shock.

"Are you sure, Jake? Saving vampires?"

"Saving you Bella. You're not running off to Italy without me." He pressed his forehead to mine and sighed. "I'm coming. Maybe we can take those bastards down at the same time."

"We're not strong enough for that yet, Jake. Even if we can locate them – it's a smash and grab operation. In and out with the hostages." At least, we hope...

"Yeah, well, I can do that too, if you're going, I am too."

"Sure, sure." I assured him, his words slipping from me so easily. In another life he would have been so happy... I shut that thought down. There were more important things to do now, we each had a job and there was no time for regrets. I had my room soundproofed because of the screaming at night, when dreams of Charlie and Edward and everything I've lost came to me. I'm pretty sure Emmett, whose room is just down the hall, hears me, but he never called me on it. We have to present a strong, unbreakable front. People needed us, and we needed them not to lose hope. Jacob wrapped his arm around me, pressing his lips into my hair, and sighed in frustration. "You know I'll never turn down the help."

There was a familiar tattoo on my door and Emmett pushed in without waiting for an answer. He didn't react to the way that Jacob was holding me, although I still felt bad about feeling this way for Jacob when Edward was caught because he came back for me.

"Bella, Bree's back." He said.

"Already?" I said, pulling away from Jacob and walking over to him, he held the door open and the two of them followed me out into the main hall. I saw Tyler and Janna cowering in one corner from this vampire, their faces eager and anxious at the same time. Elisa's face was smooth and unreadable, standing between Bree and the humans in the room, ever vigilant of the threat. Elisa's eyes hadn't quite faded to the gold of Emmett's yet, and were at the moment a sort of muddy clay colour, but her control was astounding. She acted as Emmett's vampire second in command, and I thought sometimes I saw her look at him in the same way that Rosalie did, but she never acted on it, and I would never have called her on it. It seemed sometimes that our troop worked so well because we just let each other get on with it. She looked over at me and nodded curtly, which told me a lot about her feelings at that moment: she didn't like Bree. I had to admit that Bree was a rather unconventional ally to have, but one of our most important contacts. Bree was sitting at the table we ate at, her hands folded neatly in her lap. She was quite young when changed, and her bright red eyes stood out in contrast with her long dark hair. She left Seattle with her creator, Victoria, who had been hunting me but found a better opportunity in the new ruling family, and they were in the inner circles in Volterra. Bree never liked to take human life, but Victoria wouldn't allow her another option, and Bree was a servant to her creator's will. Bree came to us a few months ago, officially on a reconnaissance trip but tired of Victoria and wanting to help us to combat the new oppressors. She told us that she could sneak in and see Rosalie and Edward, that she would do this for us and help us in any way, but we had to keep her and Victoria out of it. I was loathe to do anything for Victoria – out of any vampire in the world I would see her dead first, but Bree was insistent, and the opportunity was too good to pass up. Victoria was safe from us, and I could only hope that she would appreciate it later on.

I looked over at Emmett, who let out a shaky breath and smiled at me. He took my hand and gave it a squeeze. We've been waiting for this news for three months. Together we went to sit opposite our guest. At that moment Seth and his beta Paul walked in to the room, looking harassed. It had surprised me at first when Paul joined Seth, but after a while it made sense – Paul is not the sort to hang around and protect. He needed to be proactive – too impatient for a babysitting job. I treasure his experience and I know that Seth leans on his heavily for advice on running the pack. Seth is still young and although through bloodlines is the Alpha, Paul was a wolf for a long time before him and learnt a lot from Sam. Sometimes I think Paul joined Seth to run away from what happened to Sam...I know he felt guilty. He was the one to kill Sam's murderer, and I know it keeps him up all night, wondering what would have happened if he was just a little bit faster...

"Seth." I greeted him. "Are the new guys all sworn in?" He nodded and took his place next to Jacob, and I knew that he didn't like Bree anymore than Elisa did. I took a deep breath, knowing that I had to face this sometime.

"Hello, Bree." I said to her nodding. "Are you keeping well?"

"As well as could be expected." She said, smiling at me, her little teeth glistening.

"What news have you brought?" Emmett said, cutting through the pleasantries. Bree was undisturbed, and I remembered that courtesies were a very human thing.

"I have seen your vegetarian friends." She said. "They are being held in Volterra, as you feared. They are not treated well." I pressed my lips into a thin line as I listened. She didn't pause to make sure we wanted to hear it, she spoke in a unsympathetic voice. "They are treated like animals. They refuse to take human blood, although sometimes they are forced to. Brandon finds it amusing to cut young women with brown hair and eyes in many places and leave them bleeding in a room with Edward. He is starved otherwise, and he kills a great deal of them in sheer thirst. If he refused to drink them, they are left to die bleeding in his room. One girl he managed to stop drinking enough to change her, and she is taken to him remind him of what he did. Sometimes he is starved to the point of madness, and then brought out, chained, to fight bears and feed off of them, which Brandon finds very amusing." She surveyed us. "He is beyond madness sometimes, I could not get close enough to him to tell him of you, he believes that you are dead."

Emmett swore under his breath, and I found tears welling in my eyes. I stubbornly disallowed them to pass the threshold though. I had to be strong – of course they are doing his to him – but he is alive, he is alive and that means we can get him back.

"And Rosalie?" I asked, knowing that Emmett couldn't trust his voice right now.

Bree's eyes flicked from my face to Emmett's, to Elisa's behind him. Who knows what Elisa's face betrayed, but Emmett's was like stone.

"Brandon is very drawn to Rosalie." Bree said. "She is his constant companion, although she is there against her will. She is not starved like Edward, but she is forced to feed from human women that Brandon is attracted to whilst he watches, although she is given rats as well." Emmett's face was losing its composure. "I'm quite sure he rapes her, or perhaps she yields to him to stop him hurting her and others in front of her - I know that he holds Edward's imprisonment over her head. Although I saw her, she is kept mostly chained to Brandon's throne like a pet, and I did not have the opportunity to talk to her."

"Do they have the others?" Elisa spoke up now, as Emmett and I were incapable.

"The other Cullens? Not as yet. It is thought that Carlisle and Esme may be somewhere in Thailand, and nothing is known of Alice and Jasper. They are on the most part an arrogant lot, content to play with their toys and not worry about the future, although the haven of Forks irks them, as does this operation."

"How can we get to them?" I asked. "We need to get them out."

"It won't be easy." Bree said. "Rosalie is always watched like a prize, and Edward is locked in the dungeons. There is a time though. Brandon is planning a parade through the streets, symbolising vampire's rule over humans. Both Rosalie and Edward will be brought out to the event, and that will probably be when they are most accessible."

"When is the parade?" Emmett asked through clenched teeth.

"Two weeks' time." Bree stood. "That is all I can help you with."

"Thank you Bree." I said, holding out my had to her.

"Don't mention it, Bella. I will of course assist you in Volterra any way I can, but not to the point of them knowing."

"I understand, Bree, thank you. Are you able to stay with us for short while? It would be helpful it you were included in our planning."

"I can stay here for a while, but I must return soon. They think I am hunting on the continent."

I nodded. Emmett beside me relaxed. The worst was over, we knew that our loved ones were still alive, that the others were out of reach. All that was left was the planning, and that was what we were best at. I let my heart soar at the idea – Edward back with me, protected in our base. Anything he'd gone through – any mental state he was in we could fix. He would soon be with us again. And from there we could do anything...

**AN: I ended it here because this is a ridiculously long chapter and I'm incredibly aware that I have other stories to work on and I want approval for this fic to continue. If you want this fic to continue please review telling me so, and if you'd rather I continued a different story, either review that one or review this one telling me off for not updating that one instead of uploading this piece of rubbish. I am your indecisive servant and will bend to your will.**


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